September 10, 2013CUTTONE’S CONCEPTSThe air is different at a big event: USA-Mexico has that feel COLUMBUS, Ohio---Big events have a certain feel to them. Sports fans know what those events are. Sometimes they are championship games. Sometimes they are rivalry games. Red Sox-Yankees, Michigan-Ohio State. There is something in the air. It’s different. You start to feel it approaching the stadium. It grows moving through the streets or the parking lots and becomes overpowering inside the gates.

May 27, 2013CUTTONE'S CONCEPTS14 is not 42 Robbie Rogers did a courageous thing by coming out, and then un-retiring, becoming on Sunday night the first openly gay male athlete to play in a game for a major professional sports team in the United States.

January 20, 2013CUTTONE’S CONCEPTSMichelle Akers: Simply the best Every sport has its legends -- Babe Ruth, Jim Thorpe, Gordie Howe, Jesse Owens, Arnold Palmer, Richard Petty, Billie Jean King. Names that resonate even with non-sports fans. Even though she does not think so, Michelle Akers belongs on that list.

December 6, 2012CUTTONE’S CONCEPTSGreatest American team ever? Not the Galaxy. Following the Los Angeles Galaxy’s 3-1 win over the Houston Dynamo to capture their second straight MLS Cup on Saturday, former Galaxy player and current team executive Chris Klein proclaimed the team the greatest in American soccer history. While winning back-to-back MLS Cups is impressive, the Galaxy are not even close to the best ever, by a number of measures.

December 2, 2012CUTTONE’S CONCEPTSA fitting exit for David Beckham David Beckham left Major League Soccer on Saturday as he entered it – amid happy, celebratory chaos, his welcoming press conference and final hoisting of the MLS Cup trophy bookending a sometimes rocky road through the still-developing landscape of American soccer.

October 16, 2012CUTTONE’S CONCEPTSHome at last KANSAS CITY,Kan.---For as long as the United States has been playing World Cup qualifiers, it has been looking for someplace where it would truly have a home field advantage.

August 6, 2012CUTTONE'S CONCEPTSA true classic In the short history of women's soccer at the world level, there have been a handful of epic games and epic performances. Monday’s Olympic semifinal match between the United States and Canada was one of the best.